When the news of the massacre at the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo hit the airwaves and internet last week, many were quick to take up the banner of freedom of expression, proclaiming “Je suis Charlie” or “I am Charlie” as a tribute to the slaughtered artists and writers at the infamous satire publication.

It was the honorable and righteous thing to do.

It is our moral duty to stand against the barbarians of the world who would resort to violence when their ideas fail.

There will no doubt be several eloquent speeches about the promise that lies ahead in the new year and the great things that will be done for Georgians by our elected leaders.

That will all be well and good, but it won’t be the whole story. In fact, the governor and the leadership of the General Assembly have some tricky challenges to deal with this year, with no guarantees that they will be able to handle them successfully.

For Deal, his big problem will be how he copes with the potential failures of rural hospitals all over the state.

For instance, I’m promising that I’ll be very nice to the people that manage my credit cards. Wouldn’t it be great to have somebody at the home office consider you one of their best friends? They may grow to love you so much that they’ll only charge 50 percent of what you actually buy on your bill. Wait! Sounds illegal, you say? Could be. I’m not up with all the legalities. All I know is that they make me very unhappy every month. Why not instill a sense of “I think I really do like this person, so why charge her for all the stuff she buys every month? She surely could use a break.”

The science of gathering facts and information and distilling it into a form that readers can understand, learn from and perhaps even enjoy, is an imperfect one, at best.

It is a daily struggle in doing your utmost in “getting it right,” which includes everything – from the facts of a simple story, to the headline, to the photos and captions, along with spelling and grammar.

In an effort to address this issue, a joint study committee was established by the General Assembly to recommend specific ways to address critical transportation infrastructure funding, and their findings and recommendations are forthcoming. In the 2015 Session of the General Assembly, legislators will struggle to choose designating additional sources of revenue or taking funds away from other entities or programs to invest in transportation.